Record Mirror, October 1983
© 1983 Record Mirror
PUBLIC IMAGE LTD
Live in Tokyo
(Virgin) **
PiL's and Soap
PUBLIC IMAGE'S motives for releasing this live album are somewhat dubious to say the least. Has Johnny run out of pils, we ask?
Nearly all the tracks on
this dodgy double 12 inch are available in fresher punchier form on
the first album and 'Second Edition' ('Annalisa', 'Religion', 'Low Life',
'Death Disco', 'Banging The Door', etc), and where the sense lies in
sticking one's hand in one's pocket to buy it is open to question.
However, there's some musically good versions of 'Death Disco' and 'Flowers
Of Romance, where the familiar nasty Public Image of old briefly pokes
a mocking claw and a twisted grin through all the anaemia, but John
himself still sounds as if he'd far prefer to be down the pub with a
lager in one hand and a hamburger in the other.
Antidote: shut yourself in your room, and play the first album.
© n/a